*Changes depending on gender of noun that follows. Add letters in parentheses for feminine conjugation.
**Freund can be both a platonic friend as well as a boyfriend or girlfriend — it depends on the context and how you say it. It can sometimes lead to confusion, but in this context, it might not hurt to be ambiguous if you want to be left alone. To make the platonic distinction clear, you could say “Freund(in) von mir.”
***Spoken version: “abimi”
****For both “brother” and “sister”
*****For both “boyfriend” and “girlfriend”

How to let someone know if another person is making you uncomfortable

“Sorry to bother you, but that person over there is making me feel uncomfortable. Do you mind if I stand with you for a few minutes?”

*Changes in the written form depending on whether the speaker is male or female, but sounds exactly the same when it’s spoken.
**Use the formal Sie for people you don’t know, above approx. the age of 30. You could also say du depending on the situation.
***Man/woman
****Formal/informal

*Changes in the written form depending on whether the speaker is male or female, but sounds exactly the same when it’s spoken.
**Use Hast du Lust if you’re trying to be informal.
***Formal.
***Addressing one person/multiple people.
****Male/female conjugation.

*Homosexuel/homosexuelle would be the most neutral term in French, as “queer” isn’t often used orally. You could also just say trans instead of transgenre.
**”I am male/female/a trans man/a trans woman; I’m non-binary.” One thing to be aware of is that gender identity is rarely expressed in such a straight-forward manner in Brazil (and perhaps other countries too). If you’re not in the company of people you feel comfortable around, or if you’re not among people who have a nuanced understanding of gender, it might be better to simply ask that one not refer to you using gendered pronouns (see below).

*In French, the neutral pronouns are still not really defined; these are probably the most commonly used gender-neutral pronouns within the community, but not everyone will understand these.
**You might encounter Germans who use gender-neutral pronouns like sier and xier, but most people are unlikely to understand these outside of queer and activist spaces.
***Sadly, the Italian language doesn’t have neutral pronouns to express non-binary descriptives. The use of the plural is avoided due to cultural implications: It is, in fact, considered classist in the everyday language. The linguistic non-binary issue is currently a topic of discussion in the LGBT community, which introduced the use of the * in written language to avoid declination (mostly as an act of activism), but has not yet found a solution for the spoken language. In conclusion: using the plural as a literal translation of “they” is not a solution and can only cause misunderstanding. For more background on this, click here.
****For more background on gender neutrality in Spanish, click here.
*****There doesn’t appear to be a well-known gender-neutral pronoun in Portuguese, so many suggest finding a way to phrase things that don’t involve gendering someone if that’s what they prefer.
******Russian is another gendered language that doesn’t have a well-established gender-neutral pronoun. Some non-binary people in Russia take the masculine “он” because it aligns with other terms that are more neutral, some feminist communities use female as a default gender and separate the female suffix with “_,” and some use “они” (“they”). For more background, click here.

Sure, it’s been said for centuries that “women have a language all their own,” but did you know that there are actually languages out there constructed by and for women to use? In honor of International Women’s Day, let’s take a look at two of these “woman-made” languages.

Steph is a writer, lindy hopper, and astrologer. She’s also a language enthusiast who grew up bilingual and had an early love affair with books. She has mostly proved herself as a New Yorker, and she can introduce herself in Swedish thanks to Babbel. She also speaks Russian and Spanish, but she’s a little rusty on those fronts.

Steph is a writer, lindy hopper, and astrologer. She’s also a language enthusiast who grew up bilingual and had an early love affair with books. She has mostly proved herself as a New Yorker, and she can introduce herself in Swedish thanks to Babbel. She also speaks Russian and Spanish, but she’s a little rusty on those fronts.